A Pirate's Life For Me
by SoManyPuns
Summary: Samantha Manson is heir apparent to the Manson fortune and has everything a girl could want, everything except adventure. Instead of staying in her landlocked castle and getting married off to whoever her parents needed an alliance with, Sam answers the call of the sea. She sneaks aboard a merchant ship bound for another land. Everything is going wonderfully, until the dread pirate


_SUMMARY: Samantha Manson is heir apparent to the Manson fortune and has everything a girl could want, everything except adventure. Instead of staying in her landlocked castle and getting married off to whoever her parents needed an alliance with, Sam answers the call of the sea. She sneaks aboard a merchant ship bound for another land. Everything is going wonderfully, until the dread pirate Phantom arrives on his ship, The Ghost, and then everything goes straight to hell._

A Pirate's Life for Me

 _I looked to the Land and I looked to the Sea_

 _But only one was calling me._

 _I looked to the Law and I looked to the Free_

 _But only one beckoned me._

 _So I've decided what I'll be,_

 _Yes, it's a Pirate's Life for me!_

"On your feet, Lad!"

Sam groaned and rolled to her feet, glad to have finally perfected the art of not falling on her face. She pulled worn boots onto her aching feet and tromped out of the barracks along with all of the others. Silently, the former heiress attended to her duties, living as a cabin boy on one of her parent's vessels was not quite the life of adventure she'd dreamed of, but it was a life on the sea, and that's all that really mattered.

" _You're a daughter of the sea._ " Her grandmother had said, " _Your mother is always calling you back to her."_

"Samuel! Get your head out of the clouds!" The First Mate snapped. "Or you'll be gettin' off at the next port!"

Rather than offering apologies that she knew would be ignored, Sam forced her attention back to the mop in her hands. The blisters on her hands made the task difficult, but she was nothing if not stubborn and before midday, the deck was clean.

The First Mate strode past her, his eyes anxious and hard, he brushed by her without looking up and let himself into the captain's quarters. Immediately, Sam knew something was off, the First Mate was the stoic type and she'd never known him to be nervous, especially about talking to the captain, who was a kind hearted man. Something was wrong.

Ignoring the freshly popped blisters on her hands, Sam climbed to the crow's nest, looking out over the sea. The waves rolled on for miles, straight to the horizon in every direction, there was nothing- "Oh." she whispered to herself, because there was something. Another ship, clearly in pursuit. A black flag rippled in the wind.

 _Pirates._

"All hands on deck!" the First Mate cried, startling Sam out of her horrified stupor. She climbed quickly down the rigging, all thoughts of blisters gone. She huddles in a small group with the other two cabin boys, pretending to be braver than they are as the First Mate tells them that there are pirates on their tail. That they'll likely catch up by sundown. That _The Fortune_ doesn't have the weapons to repel them.

Sam quietly returns to her bunk alongside the rest of the crew. They have to rest up before the pirates get here if they're to have any chance. As sleep quietly claims the men, Sam lays in her hammock wide awake. There are things she must do.

Once she is certain that the others are all asleep, Sam creeps out onto the deck, looking out over the ocean. She is alone here, except for the crow keeping watch in the nest. Her hands play around her throat, fingers tangling around the chain that hangs there. She has to do this, there is no choice. If the pirate's find someone bearing the Manson Crest on this boat, they will show no mercy. But some part of her still rebels against it. Sam pulls the necklace over her head, her family's crest, her last tie to them.

It hits her then, that she could die here and her family would never know. They would spend the rest of their days wondering what had happened to their daughter. Sam realizes that she is afraid. " _I don't want to die here_." she whispers to the sea as she lets the crest fall into its depths, lost forever.

She doesn't know how long she stands there, looking out over the restless water. Behind her, the pirate ship draws ever closer. ' _I must rest.'_ she tells herself ' _if I am to survive, I must be at my best.'_ and then she ducks below and manages to fall asleep, lulled by the sway of the waves against the hull.

"UP! UP, THE LOT OF YOU!" The First Mate shouts and everyone tumbles out of their bunks, snatching weapons and pulling on their boots wordlessly. It is time.

Sam remembers curling her fingers around the handle of a knife as long as her forearm.

She remembers the deafening bark of the cannons as the two ships closed on one another.

She remembers seeing the name painted on the side of the enemy ship. _The Ghost_.

She knows that ship. It is the same one that has plagued her family's business for the past three years. Captained by the dread pirate Phantom, the most wanted pirate in the world. Scourge of the seven seas.

They have no hope of surviving this battle.

Then everything blurs together in battle cries and blood.  
Gunshots and the flash of swords.

The First Mate falls at her feet, bleeding and chocking for air. His face is pale and the breath he manages to draw gurgles and hisses gruesomely in his chest. He coughs and blood spatters on her face, quickly cooling. He dies at her feet while Sam stands frozen above him. Her knife doesn't seem so big anymore. Certainly not big enough to protect her from a shipload of murderers that has just been unloaded upon her vessel. She's never seen a man die before, never watched as the spark of life was extinguished, lost forever to the darkness of the Beyond.

Her family will get a report of this. Even if no one survived, it would be assumed when _The Fortune_ fails to make port. They will only know of the lost cargo, they will glance over words on a page and never know they lost so much more than fabrics and spices to the pirates.

 _NO._ A part of her says. _I am the daughter of the sea. I will not die here, or anywhere else._

She has just resolved herself to this when a man crashes into her. A pirate, his face inches from her's. His body laid over top of her, there is no way he doesn't know that she is no man. Sam can see the moment he realizes it. Unearthly green eyes widen. He backs away hastily and they both regain their feet.

"You-you're a woman!" he shouts surprised.

"Woman?" Sam snarls, her face covered in the blood of a dead man, her clothes mere rags, her hands blistered. "Pardon you sir, I am a _Lady."_ Then she punches him straight across the face. He falls back to the deck and Sam springs away.

She takes a brief moment to look over her enemy. He wears a long coat, like that of a naval officer, but his is not the traditional red. Instead, his jacket is dyed deep black, and the cuffs are white as snow. In fact, it is nearly the same shade as his hair. He is young, she realizes, about the same age as her, actually.

He groans, rubbing his nose and looking up at her with his impossibly green eyes. Just as she is studying him, he is studying her. His eyes light upon the knife in her belt and Sam, cursing herself for forgetting her weapon, draws it, holding it with inept hands. She's at least got the pointy bit aimed towards him though, so there's something.

"Captain!" someone shouts, sounding worried.

The boy looks over to them. Like he's...responding.

Oh.

 _Oh._

She just punched Phantom in the nose.

 _Daughter of the sea indeed._ She thinks to herself. _He may ride the sea, but I am_ of _the sea._

Sam nearly giggles. But she is the daughter of the sea, she is rage and sorrow incarnate, she cannot giggle. It isn't dignified.

The sounds of battle have faded around them, is it over? Have they won or lost? How many are dead?

Their eyes meet. Green and Purple. The Captain and the Sea. Son of man and Daughter of the Ocean.

They are forced to look away from one another as someone tackles Sam, taking her to the deck. Everything goes black.


End file.
